An Echo of Time
by Sean Conner
Summary: The tale of two adventurers, each slowly becoming local legends together. These are their quests, their trials, and the story of the love they share that can never be.


Disclaimer: I do not own 'Dungeons & Dragons'. However much I would have liked to create it, I didn't... I did create the characters and setting, they are mine so you can't have em. Nanner nanner. I hope you enjoy this story. R&R appreciated greatly. Also I appologise in advance for the lack of indents. I think this site doesn't like me.

It was a cold, early spring day in mid April. The party was three days northeast of a small city in the Winder Lae mountains. The dwarven chief there told them of a castle in the marshes. Though technically the castle belonged to the dwarf, since it was in his lands, he had offered it to them as reward for cleansing it of the evil wizard and the demon he had contracted to his evil ways.  
Sam couldn't help but think this had happened before as he rolled out from his blankets and stretched, scratching at his long brown hair and rubbing his matching-color eyes. His plate armor and weapons stood in the corner of the wagon, and supplies were scattered here and there. Food, arrows, treasure, everything an adventurer needs.

He could see his adventuring companion, the beautiful elven archer Alenni Tintillar, was up and about. Her equipment was already gone, and her bedding packed neatly up. Samuel Hall, the mighty paladin born in barbarian lands, wasn't quite ready to mount up and finish the last leg of the journey to the bog, so he hopped out the back of the covered wagon and took in a deep breath of air, dressed in just his blue tunic and some gray britches.

His breath misted in front of him, and he got his first look at this particular stretch of badlands. There weren't enough trees to consider it a forest, but not few enough to be planes. The normaly leafy trees seemed to be getting scragglier as they went as well.

"Master Hall," one of the two animal tenders Sam and Alenni had hired to travel with them spoke, "Mistress Alenni left some time ago. She said she would scout the trail and report back before mid-day."

"Thank you, Carter." Sam said, and then went for a short walk to relieve himself. They had hired four men and one woman to help with some of the mundane tasks involved with traveling; two men to tend the horses, the woman for mending clothes and assisting in the donning of armor, one man for cooking and finally a young lad with a strong back to help with hauling loot out of any dungeons they cleaned out.

In any case, when he had finished and was walking back, debating putting on his suit of plate he heard Alenni's horse coming up at a gallop. She brought the black horse down to a trot and handed the reins off to one of the animal tenders, then dismounted. "Sam!" She shouted at him, and considering he was maybe nine feet from her he got the idea she might be a little irritated at his sleeping habits.

But she was far from an unwelcome site in the morning. With her fair skin, red-auburn hair with the front locks braided and tied behind her head, and shining emerald eyes he very much enjoyed waking up to see her in her nightgown. Though last night they had ridden long and hard, so he slept longer then he should, and since (as we all know) elves only need to rest in a trance for four or so hours a night she had probably been up for several hours now.

Presently she wore her elven chainmail, which covered her lithe body in tiny silver rings from her neck to her ankles, with small plates fashioned into fig leaves protecting her hips, spine and elbows. Over it she wore her sword belt with her two blades and quiver of arrows, a pair of magic bracers and a green tabard that covered her back with two tails that hung to her feat, and two panels in front that came over her shoulders to her shins, held in place by her belt. The tabard was a gift Sam had bought her in the elven city Moon Shadow. It had a silver tree on each front panel with its roots stretching down all the way to the bottom, intertwining into various patters and shapes along the way. (whew... -.-)

"I can't believe you've slept this late Sam!" She scolded him as she removed her prized bow and her pack from the horse's saddle. He didn't mind the scolding, she was by far the truest friend he had ever known, and though he wished for more then just friendship from her he did know and respect her reasons. Sam was already approaching his mid thirties, and she was barely out of her teenage years. Chances were he'd be a pile of dust before even a single wrinkle marred her face.

"I'll prepare quickly Alenni. Do you think we can reach the bog by nightfall?" Sam asked as he began to haul his own gear out. He was beginning to have quite the collection of weapons, but settled on the onyx longsword he had had enchanted. It had been a gift from their normally third companion, a halfling scoundrel named Orlando, but he was traveling with a circus across Damnsarlia as a trick knife thrower, working as part of an underground movement to overthrow the monarchy of that kingdom. Though a large part of his choice was from a hobbit woman who traveled with the circus as an illusionist, whom Orlando had the sweets for.

He began to lace up his greaves while he listened to Alenni.

"I think we can make it there with enough night to set up camp," she said "but this place has me concerned... I haven't seen sign of any animals or monsters."

"Now that I think of it, I don't think I've had to draw my blade once on this journey." Sam replied, pulling on his breastplate while Nahon, their seamstress, laced up his legs for him. After a few more minutes he strapped on his own sword belt with his device, the rising sun, crafted from brass on the buckle. He put his shield and helmet on his own horse, attached his blue cloak to the clasps over his collarbones, and mounted his brown steed,

"Although not waking up with a sore shoulder is rather welcome." He laughed, nudging his horse on.

"Let's move everyone, this is the last day of our journey!" Alenni called out to their servants, then trotted up along Sam, "I'm serious Sam, we should have seen something somewhere. Even a couple goblins out digging for edible roots would make me feel more at ease." She said, glancing about nervously.

Sam leaned over in his saddle, close enough he was sure only Alenni could hear him, "don't speak of this too loudly, we don't want them," he glanced back at the people that had been traveling with them for close to a month and a half now, "to get scared. I have felt evil around us for several miles now, but yet I do not see anything, and neither have you... This may be a trap, someone finally deciding we're more trouble then they want, but if it is I don't want them to know the danger they might be in... Just have faith, my friend," _my love... _"together we can slay anything this madman can summon forth."

Alenni nodded and relaxed her grip on the reins a little. Samuel's presence always made her feel more at ease. She didn't know if it was the power instilled in him by his deity, or just his natural good natured, protective self, but the reason didn't really matter.

Just then the flapping of near-silent wings caught Alenni's sharp (no pun intended) elven ears. It was her owl, a magic familiar she had brought into being some time ago. She had learned to bend arcane magics and her archery together, but early on in her adventuring career she'd had to learn the skills separately, and part of this was learning wizardry, so with that she had learned to summon a mage's pet. Being a ranger having an extra set of eyes served her well. She held up her arm and it perched on her bracer, "did you find anything?" She asked. It was only at this point did Sam even realize the owl was there, "mmh... No? All right, go on then." She smiled and reached into her pouch to give her owl a freshly dead mouse and lifted her arm for the owl to sail over to one of the two wagons. Naian landed on the edge of the roof, keeping a watchful eye and ate her mouse happily.

"Naian hasn't found trace of anything either. She's been scouting since yesterday..."

Despite the unusual conditions they were traveling in they reached the bog about when Alenni estimated, shortly before the sun started to set "This is as far as the wagons can go, let's set up out main encampment here." Alenni called out as she and Sam dismounted. The hired help quickly got to work, and Sam and Alenni helped as well, tying up the horses and helping to set up their large octagon tent. Once the worst of the work was done with Alenni went to a wagon to change, and Sam started to strip off his armor and place it on his wooden rack.

By the time he was done dressing down the sky was a brilliant orange and he could smell something good coming from then tent, but Alenni was no where to be found. There were more trees growing around the bog because of the water source, so he couldn't see her anywhere. Fortunately this particular swamp didn't smell as unpleasant as most.

Pulling his boots back on he trekked out to find his companion. He didn't think until he was several minutes away from the camp he should have brought one of his weapons, but then he came upon a white linen tunic and matching pants and undergarments hanging on the branches of a tree. Quietly he crept forward until a small pool of water came into view. It was about ten feet across, and four or five feet deep in the center. At the edge of the pool was a worn leather pack, with a green glass bottle and a towel laid out.

He couldn't help but smile as he saw Alenni's bare back facing him as her fingers worked the cleansing tonic through her hair. He could smell the perfume in it from here, and he sat down at the edge of the pool, making a thump as he sat.

Alenni did two things, the first was to cover her bosom with her left arm, the second was to whip a dagger concealed under the water at him as she turned. The dagger embedded about a third of its blade into the tree her clothes were draped on, and a hand covered her mouth in surprise as she realized seven inches to the left was Sam's chest. She scowled at him and turned her back

"If I hadn't thrown blind you could very well be coughing up blood Sam. What are you doing sneaking up on me?"

Though his pulse was quickened from the near miss he laughed, "dinner is being made, I didn't think you'd want to miss a meal." He said as he plucked the dagger from the tree and set it next to her pack.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She said with mock offence. He couldn't see the smile on her lips.

"Nothing, it's just been a long time since lunch."

"Well, thank you very much master paladin for your concern, but right now I find my smell more bothersome then my empty stomach."

Sam glanced around the pool. He could see it was connected to the swamp, but the water was crystal clear. "You seem to have found quite the pleasant bathing spot here Alenni."

"It's the reeds and grass," she said pointing to where the pool connected to the rest of the marsh "they filter the water." Sam did notice a rather thick section of grass and other undergrowth beneath the water there. "That's why it smells much more pleasant then that last swamp."

"Ah, I see."

"Hm..." she trailed off for a moment, slipping her whole body beneath the water to rinse her hair. When she came back up she was facing him, but she still covered herself with her arm "Would you care to use my soaps? It has been a rather... Long journey." She tried to say it in the least offensive way possible, but bluntly he had been fermenting in his suit of armor for four days and it was beginning to be a bit much.

"Well, certainly." He said with a smile, and started to remove his tunic "I wasn't aware I was getting to the point of offensiveness yet though." He laughed

"You never do, Sam..."

He laughed again and finished undressing. She turned her eyes as he stepped into the pool, and could feel the ripples he made against her back "The water is rather warm for this time of year isn't it." He commented

She nodded and started to back towards the edge of the pool "I'm finished, so I'll head back. I'll make sure they leave some food for you."

Then a strong hand griped her waist "Laselin..." He softly uttered her true elven name. She could feel him close behind her, could nearly feel his chest pressed against her back.

"Sam... no..."

"Laselin," he turned her to face him, and she found herself looking up into his rugged face "you know how I feel for you, Laselin."

"And you know how I feel, Samuel." She tried to say sternly. It wasn't that the desire wasn't there, it was, but she knew already that on the day of his death she would be heartbroken. She didn't want that inevitable day to be made absolutely unbearable.

"Please... If this moment is the last I am to remember of you with my heart, then just for tonight love me as I love you..."

"Sam... What are you saying?"

"Laselin, I am dying one day at a time, slowly but surely. I know this, you know it. But I also know I will never find another."

She let out a long sigh, and rested her head against his chest "you selfish fool..." she murmured as her arms encircled him. She lifted her head and planted a single lingering kiss on his lips, then quickly slipped from his grasp. He turned in time to see her wrap herself in her towel. She smiled at him, sadly. That small smile reflected everything he felt for her right now "enjoy your bath Sam..." she said, then turned and disappeared into the woods.

In the morning Sam awoke, again to find Alenni was already up and out of the tent. Wordlessly he donned his armor, quickly ate some cold cereal, then stepped out of the tent.

It seemed she hadn't gotten up so early after all, she was just finishing buckling her belt. She smiled softly at him, but didn't wish him good morning. She seemed very distraught... Perhaps he had pushed her too far last night? Now wasn't the time to think about such things though, and he belted his shoulder baldric into place that held a greatsword. On his belt he wore a longsword, a small throwing axe and a quiver of arrows for his own bow that he slung over his shoulder. Alenni handed him his helmet and he nodded and stuffed his head into it.

Generally he didn't wear the helmet his armor had come with, but right now he knew something was out of place, so having a little extra protection around his skull would be a good thing. It was a round-capped helmet with a slight ridge over the top following the line of his spine to between his eyes. He looked out from it and breathed through the T-visor, "there's no pleasant way to do this." He said.

Alenni nodded, "we'll just have to follow the shallow paths until we know where we're going."

"Alright. Everyone! Keep an eye out for anything! If attacked remember, leave whatever you have to, to get to safety." He got acknowledgements from everyone, then he and Alenni began their trek through the bog.

There were few things more unpleasant then wet socks Sam had decided. Alenni seemed to wordlessly agree, since she looked not-too-pleased.

"Um... Laselin. I apologize for my actions last night and-,"

"You don't have to apologize to me Sam," Alenni smiled at him. The smile told him she genuinely wasn't angry "just don't say you'll never find another. You shouldn't stay hung up on little ol' me."

"Well, we'll see. Maybe Orlando will hook me up with one of those dancing knife-throwers he knows." He laughed. Knowing she wasn't upset put him at much greater ease.

"I say, they would be quite a catch. I even wouldn't mind sleeping with one or both of them." She joked.

"I'd be careful though, because if that were the case I think Orlando might spontaneous learn how to scry." Sam chuckled, and managed to get a laugh out of Alenni as well.

"Hold on a moment." Alenni said, and seemingly from nowhere Naian fluttered down onto Alenni's shoulder. The owl let out a few short calls, and Alenni nodded, understanding perfectly what it was she said, "apparently we're a bit off, the castle is more that way." She pointed off vaguely towards their right. Putting words to action she leapt from their current path over a patch of deep water onto another shallow bridge of sand.

"Come on Sam, we can make it there in an hour if we hurry."

Sam took a step back and jumped. He was a strong man, but with all the weight he was carrying he landed a foot short, "dammit!" he cursed as he sunk up to his ribs before he caught himself.

"Be careful Sam," Alenni said as she hauled him up, "with that plate mail you'd be lucky if you could swim as well as a rock."

"Believe me, I know." He said as he shook some of the water off, "let's get moving, I'm about ready to be done with this quest."

"You know," Alenni lamented as they stood, pondering their path. "I would have though we'd have guessed this was the right way. It's fairly obvious don't you agree?" She was referring to the densely overgrown section of swamp that Naian had led them to. The trees and vegetation were incredibly thick, so thick that there was almost no light.

"If I was going to summon a demon army to destroy the world this _is _probably where I'd do it." Sam admitted, drawing his longsword and cutting a large mossy branch out of their way, "well, this is your area of expertise, after you m'lady." Sam smiled and bowed his head.

"Why, thank you, sir knight." She said with narrowly concealed irritation, smacking his helmeted head as she passed him. As she stepped into the thick woods she nocked an arrow, keeping the point of the arrowhead everywhere her eyes searched. She could hear Sam not far behind her, keeping his blade in front of him at all times.

"If we're going to find any monsters, I'd wager they'll be in here." Alenni said quietly. She couldn't see well in here, even with her elven eyes, so she knew Sam must be nearly blind in this.

"There is something in here... I can feel it." Sam warned her. His warning came just as a swarm of dirty arrows struck at them. Alenni rolled out of the way of the arrows, and as she came to a knee fired into the trees. Before the corpse of one of their attackers had even hit the water she had fired a second arrow into the trees and killed a second of the knoll mercenaries.

Sam couldn't move in his armor very well however, and the best he managed was to cover the visor of his helmet with his forearm. The majority of the arrows were deflected or missed, but a few stuck in. Sam snarled and charged forward into the nearest tree with his shoulder, shaking one of the gnolls from the tree. It hit the ground and Sam skewered the jackle-like warrior with his sword, pinning it there momentarily before he twisted the blade and pulled it out. Another arrow hit his chest, bouncing off harmessly and he stooped and yanked one out of his shoulder, it had hit just bewteen his breast plate and helemt.

"There are nine-," Alenni started to say just as she let fly another arrow "eight left."

Sam looked into the trees and spotted two to his right. Grabbing his hand axe from his belt he easily dispatched it with a hard throw, sticking the axe head into its sternum.

The gnolls could already see they were outmatched, and began to flee, jumping through the trees to escape as quickly as possible. Sam managed to draw his own bow in time to get a single shot off at one, but he was not nearly as skilled as Alenni and only hit a tree.

"Quickly! They may lead us to the castle!" Alenni shouted as she ran after them, Sam shortly behind her. Following took them deep into the woods very quickly, but it seemed this path was not as dense as some of the others. It must be the way to the castle.

Then suddenly Alenni was taken off her feet by a blow to the chest from a very large wooden club. Her attacker stepped into the path as she scrambled back, trying to catch her breath. It was another gnoll, but this one much burlier, their champion most likely.

"Alenni, track the gnolls, I'll handle this one." Sam said quickly, stepping over Alenni and into the path of the gnoll. It gave Sam a wicked grin, and swung its club at his chest. He leaned back enough for the blow to pass by and hit a tree, the Sam slashed with his blade, cutting the gnoll across the chest, "go!" Sam yelled.

Alenni nodded and got to her feet, running in the direction the gnolls were heading in last, until she saw some kind of shaman gnoll standing before her with a staff and the skull of a bull for a helmet. He raised his staff and began to chant. Alenni didn't have time for this but she knew she was beginning to run low on arrows. Swinging the bow around her shoulder and drawing her swords in one fluid motion, the scimitar and shortsword became engulfed in magic flame as they were drawn from their sheaths.

The shaman laughed, and the vegetation next to him, which she hadn't even noticed, opened its giant mouth. Vines in its mouth snapped out like whips, grabbing her around her wrists, waist and neck. She couldn't move her hands to attack the vines, so she tried to pull away from it, "Sam!" she yelled before it pulled her off her feet and into the trap of its mouth.

"Alenni!" Sam shouted back. Distracted from his own fight the gnoll champion struck him across the spine. Sam staggered forward, then turned to face the gnoll again, gritting his teeth. It swung again, and Sam blocked with his longsword, bracing the flat of the blade on his open left hand. He threw off the attack and thrusted the blade through the gnoll's chest. As it fell defeated he let the sword go, putting his hand over his shoulder to grasp the handle of his greatsword.

He charged, letting out a yell as he drew the massive blade. The monstrous plant screetched at him, giving him a brief glimpse of Alenni trapped inside. She was bound from her mouth to her ankles, and might have been unconscious. Sam snarled back and swung with all his might, cutting through two trees before slicing clean through the stalk of the monster. His blade continued its ark through the stunned shaman, cutting him in half, and then Sam let the sword stop.

Quickly cutting the plant open he freed Alenni. She coughed and sputtered, and was dazed from being nearly strangled to death.

"Alenni, hold still." Sam said, dropping the greatsword into the marsh water and putting his hands over her chest. A warm light radiated from his open hands, and Alenni began to regain her senses.

She fell back into the water, and let just her face bob above the surface for a moment, "I'm going to have to take another bath now." She muttered, and then looked into Sam's eyes, "thank you."

Sam simply smiled, "my pleasure m'lady, you'd have done the same for me." He offered her a hand up, which she took.

"Well," she started to say as she dug her swords out of the dead plant, "I'm just glad we stopped counting who owed whom their life more times."

"I don't know," Sam grabbed his greatsword, "I think we're mostly even." He said as he walked to the dead gnoll champion and yanked his other blade from its body.

"At least I'm a little more motivated now." Alenni said as she checked her swords before putting them away "that stupid dark mage got me all slimy, and he's going to pay it out of his skin."

It wasn't much further to the castle. Though the gnoll's plan had been to lead them from one failed trap to the next they had inadvertently put the adventuring pair on the right track. It was a fairly impressive castle. Alenni managed to scale a tree near one of the walls, climb the rest of the way up the wall, eliminate a guard, and then lower a rope to Sam.

From the top of the wall they got a good idea of what they were dealing with. It seemed the dark summoner of demons wasn't building an army of the dammed. Gnolls seemed to be the brunt of the force he had built, with a few bugbears mixed in. No demons in site, which was good.

There were maybe a hundred gnolls and twenty bugbears. Enough that fighting their way through all of them would be at the least inconvenient. However, the way the castle was set up the back wall of the castle was also the back of defensive wall, so the wall they were on only enclosed in front of the castle. The castle itself was large, but looked like the kind of place a wealthy noble would live, not someone bringing up an army. It had many rooms, with large doors into the courtyard and a single tall tower near the rear-center of the castle. If this dark wizard followed the typical pattern of dark wizards (and he had thus far) that would be where he was hiding himself.

So Sam and Alenni crept along the wall, until they were at the door into the castle. Wordlessly agreeing on one of their normal plans, Sam kicked in the door and jumped in with Alenni right behind him. It was a guard station, but they caught the gnolls so off guard that they had them cut up in a matter of moments.

"We'll have time to search for treasure after the mage is dead and his army scattered, so let's head for that tower." Alenni said as they went for the next door.

"You know where it is?" Sam asked.

"I have an idea." She smiled.

They exited the guard's station into a hallway "Hmm... That way." She pointed in the direction Sam was in, so he took the lead. The castle hadn't been occupied for quite some time, so a layer of mold and other fungi covered the outherwise well-crafted masonry. It gave the place a dank smell that threatened to bring on a bought of sneezing.

Only a few steps down the hall a trap door opened under Sam's feet to reveal the ominus spikes above the surface of acid. He winced before Alenni managed to grab him by his cape and yank him back fairly hard, "one more for me, eh?" She laughed as they stepped around the trap.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll have us tied back up before long." Sam said as he straightened his cloak back out.

"Why Sam, I didn't know you wanted to tie me up." Alenni said slyly, smiling.

Sam coughed and tried to get them back to the task at hand "How much further?"

"Not much I think, maybe a few more rooms." Alenni replied, taking them down a branching corridor towards where she believed the base of the tower to begin.

Four rooms, two more pit traps and three gnoll guards later they were at the base of the spiral staircase heading up into the tower. By all rights the stairs should have been full of traps and monsters, but it was errily quiet...

They scaled the stairs until they ended in a room. It was clean, unlike the castle below, with a rich red carpet down the center of the room and banners in similar color along the walls with intricritely carved winged statues between the banners.

"What do you suppose this is all about?" Alenni asked, scanning the room carefully.

"I don't know." Sam replied, drawing his greatsword and taking a few cautious steps into the room. He got to the carpet, and thus far nothing had sprung out at them, so he shrugged and began to walk through the room.

It turned out to be a bad idea. The first trap he triggered was a hail of metal neddles shooting into his side. His plate deflected them, but after it spears sprung up from beneath him. Alenni pushed him forward out of the way, and they started to run.

A set of posioned arrows shot out of the wall ahead of them, and they both tumbled to the left. Close enough to the wall that the banners near them were split as giant axes atempted to cleave them in two. As they leapt past one of the axes the statue took a swipe at Alenni. Sam quickly dispatched it, but the other five statues around the room had come to life as well, and the gargoyals all took flight after them.

Jumping over a pit of acid and rolling past the floor-spikes that came up at them they reached the base of the stairs heading up on the opposite side of the room from where they started. Ducking a flying spear they started up the stairs, Alenni took a moment to shoot one of the gargoyals though the eye.

The stairs wern't any better. Sam blocked a scyth comming from the wall with his sword and manage to break the mechinism as he pushed it back into the wall. A few steps further and a circular saw attempted to cut them in half. Sam fell prone to avoid the trap and Alenni leapt over it.

A quick look to her left and she saw a gargoyal comming for them fast. She fired an arrow off, but it snatched it out of the air and cackled in a dry voice, swooping in for the kill. Alenni sneered and in one fluid motion with her left hand drew her scimitar blade down and, bracing the blunt edge against her forarm, split the gargoyal from navel to nose, it crumbling to dust around her.

Sam got to his feet after the saw had past, and they continued to run. But the stairs started to crumble in front of them. They jumped, both managing to just barely grab onto the good stairs left. Sam grabbed Alenni by her sword belt and hefted her up before climbing the rest of the way up himself.

She took a knee and began to fire on the last three gargoyals. But she had only gotten off a single shot before they both heard a rumbling comming from above. A round boulder as wide as the stairs was rolling down towards them and picking up speed.

"Keep shooting!" Sam yelled, she nodded quickly and let another arrow fly, puncturing the stomach of the foul magical beast. Sam took his greatsword and thrusted it into the stairs infront of them. He braced himself, and as the boulder hit his sword he pushed up hard, using his sword as a ramp to throw it off the stairs. Alenni nocked a final arrow and killed one of the last two. The boulder sailed down and clipped the last gargoyal before punching a hole in the ceiling of the trap room. The gargoyal fell through the hole, and they heard several more traps trigger before there was silence again.

The boulder had been the final trap on the stairs, and a short minute later they entered the summoning room. Cages lined the walls filled with bloody bones, and the summoning circle was etched into the floor of the room. In its center a huge creature sat, motionless. It was some kind of spider and it only left fifteen feet on eaither side to move. It had a large head with a mouth full of wicked teeth and a pair of claws like a praying mantis. Its armored hide was a dull grey-blue, and as it opened its eyes they glowed red.

It slowly got to its feet, and a whiney voice from behind it yelled out an order, "those are the ones! Kill them! Feast on their souls!" It was then that Sam and Alenni got their first look at the evil wizard. It was a gnome with a receding hairline, green robes and a grating demeanor. The demon glanced back and seemed to shake its head, as if it couldn't believe that such a weakling mage had managed to contract him.

The unfortunate thing about demons though, once they had agreed to assist a summoner they were surprisingly loyal until the job was complete. It growled and charged. Alenni was quick to run to the side, but Sam didn't move as fast. He suddenly felt strange. But as the bebilith approched him he seemed to regain his senses somewhat and cleaved open the side of the demons head. It screamed and slashed Sam with its claw, throwing him to the right, putting the demon in between Sam and Alenni.

Suddenly Alenni began to feel somewhat ill, "Sam! It's creating a magic circle!" She yelled, nocking an arrow and firing it at the bebilith's backside, but it richochted of its armor like skin, and Alenni could see the slight shimmer from where its magic circle helped deflect the attack.

The gnome wizard laughed in his high-pitched voice, "yes! Kill them! Kill them both!"

Sam staggered to his feet, reaching for his throwing axe to shut the wizard up, but only now realized it was still stuck in the ribcage of a gnoll in the woods. He didn't have time to lement its loss though, as the demon snatched him up in its jaws and bit down into his abdomen. He screamed, but all Alenni could do was try to find a weak point in its armor with her bow, as long as its magic circle was in place she couldn't move any closer.

Sam let go of his greatsword and grabbed one of the demon's teeth with his right hand and yanked it hard, nearly pulling it out at the root. The bebilith yelped, and loosened its grip enough to for him to reach his longsword with his left hand. He slashed at it mercilessly and it dropped him as his blade cut through its skin. He fell onto the stone floor, and as he stood the demon attacked with its right claw. It struck him in the face, the force spinning him around and digging the demon's claw into the floor and ripping out a good chunk of it as pulled it free. Sam landed on his side, bleeding from his stomach, back and face.

"Sam!" Alenni yelled, and stuck two arrows between the demon's shoulder blades. This got its attention, and it turned and charged.

Just then Sam began to stand back up, pulling off his helmet. The face of it had been torn completely off with the monster's attack. He steadied himself, and heard the summoner yelling, 'no! No! NO!'. Without a second though he threw his longsword at the fool. It hit the wall next to him and clattered to the ground, but the dark mage got the idea and ran up the last set of stairs to his study.

The demon heard the commotion, stopping a few feet short of Alenni. It looked back and hissed at Sam, who it thought it had killed. It took a single swipe at Alenni, and she managed to duck under the cleaving attack. Then it started to run towards Sam again. It stopped halfway and turned what looked like its stinger towards him, and a mess of yellow webbing shot out at him. The mess struck him and pined him in place.

Sam started to rip the webbing apart with his bare hands, then felt the sickness of the monster's magic circle targeting him as it charged for the kill. Before it reached him he unslung his bow and heaved it towards the creature,

"Alenni!" He shouted as it hit the ground in front of the demon and slid under its legs. She nodded and grabbed the slender white bow, dropping her own.

The demon ripped at Sam with its claws as she drew the arrow back, and in a bare whisper she heard a voice calling to her in elvish...

_"Swift defeat to my enemies..."_

"I swear now." She growled between her teeth in her native tongue, "I will slay this demon."

And then the bow's voice became a battlecry _"Swift to defeat those who have wronged me!"_

She let the arrow fly, the shot sending of ripples into the air with its flight. It hit the demon squarely in the back of the head and it screamed and reared back in pain. She fired again and again, putting one arrow after another methodically into its head, neck, legs and abdomen.

Sam did not waste time as the creature was destracted, taking up his greatsword. He swung up, shearing off the demon's right claw, and then with his sword above his head brought it down in a swift blow, chopping of its left.

With the magic circle focused away from her, Alenni ran up on the monster, firing as she ran. She jumped onto its back and threw away the bow, taking out her blades and wraping both around its neck, ripping back on its foul throat. At that same moment Sam thrusted his blade up to the hilt into its chest.

The combined blows brought the creature to its knees. As they pulled their swords away it colapsed, its vile life ending.

Alenni jumped down, dropping her weapons and catching Sam before he fell to the floor. He was wounded badly and his once shining plate mail in tatters, the bite wounds in his stomach were as deep as dagger thrusts and full of a black poison, and the slash across if face had nearly blinded him.

He looked into her eyes, wincing. The bebilith's posion felt like hot coals in his wounds, but it could not enter his system so long as his deity watched over him. Sam took in a deep breath, his life had not been taken from him or even dimmed much. He put his own hands on his chest and closed his eyes, and a healing light covered his body.

Alenni helped him to his feet and saw that his ability to heal had run its course for today, his wounds were mearly scabbed over and not fully mended. But he seemed to be well enough for the final battle.

"Let's finish this." He said, grabbing his sword from the floor.

Up the stairs was a thick wooden door that must have lead into the hole the wizard had crawled into. They could hear the wizard's irritating chanting behind the door.

"I have had enough." Alenni said, shaking her head and pulling an arrow back on her own bow. "What do you think, to the right or left?" she asked Sam.

"Sounds like..." He listened a moment, "left."

"I agree." She said, pointing her bow at the base of the door and letting go the bowstring. The arrow hit the stone floor and kicked back up under the crack of the door with a spark. The wizard's nasally yelp filled their ears and Alenni smiled.

With a powerful kick Sam knocked the door open, and they saw the wizard on his back, holding his chest. The arrow had hit him dead center. Alenni drew her shortsword and was about to finish him, but Sam held out a hand, "wait. I have a better idea."

He grabbed the wizard by the neck and opened the window of his study that overlooked the courtyard "No! No! I'll give you anything! Please no!"

Sam just gave him a look one might give a child caught in the act. _Shouldn't have had your hand in the cookie jar._

"Hear this foul creatures of darkness!" he bellowed out the window, "This is what happens to anyone who walks the path of evil! For if you do I will find you! You will pay with your life!" With that, he promptly threw the wizard out of the tower.

He fell about a hundred feet before hitting the roof with a thud, screaming all the way, and then rolled off and landed in front of the castle's main doors. The effect was everything Sam had hoped for, as the simple-minded gnolls and bugbears fled into the swamp.

He heard a light applause from behind him.

"I didn't know you enjoyed public speeches." Alenni said with a smirk.

Sam just laughed, sheathing his blade after wiping the gore from it on the expensive-looking curtain, "I'm getting rather famished. Think Deljorn has lunch prepared?"

"I don't know, but I think a well-earned meal is in order." Alenni laughed in return.

Epilogue...

Sam picked at a large scab on his bare shoulder. He was wearing a sleeveless, short blue tunic rather then his armor, to help it heal. Alenni swatted his hand, then straightened back up on her horse,

"If you're going to let it heal naturally, at least don't pick at it." They rode ahead of the two wagons as useual. Though the rode armed it was doubtful they'd find any hostile encounters.

"Why are you letting it heal naturally anyway?"

"Scars are to my people what belts are to martial artists." he replied, taking the reins back up again. If that was the case he was a blackbelt several times over, his whole body was covered in scars of various shapes and sizes... "By the way, where shall we head towards now?"

"I was thinking maybe ride towards the capital. We've been out in the wilderness so long I've nearly forgot what society is like."

"I thought you liked the wilderness." Sam said raising an eyebrow.

Alenni gave him a look as if he had missed something rather obvious, "only if that wilderness has hot baths, food served to my room and a place where I can spend my gold."

"Ah. Ever the woman at heart aren't you Alenni?" Sam teased. She punched him in his arm and he winced, "well, to Corenia it is then."

I'd like to give a very special thanks to my girlfriend Kimmi for being my editor, my moral support, for egging me on when I wanted to skim over scenes (if not for her the trap-filled tower would have never happened), for writing my disclaimer and for allowing the use of her Dungeons & Dragons character Alenni Tintilar.

Also, I'd like to point you in the direction of her fan fiction,'Ticking Clocks' in the Harry Potter section. She goes by Moki. Or you can be lazy and just click

So there is my story, I hope you enjoyed it. As you may or may not have guessed Sam, Alenni and the briefly mentioned Orlando are characters adveturing in the world I DM for them, Terra. Orlando is my younger brother Cory, Alenni is my darling Kimmi, and Sam is my character who is more or less a glorified NPC.

However, since I am a DM, and tend to think up a lot of stuff in my free time, after each chapter I would like to have a little something called...

House Rules!

In a nutshell non-standard rules I've made up to make my life a little easier, today's is...

Identification of magic items: Any city with a wizard or bard of at least 5th level has a scribe that can identify the properties of a magic item. The cost for this is 1% of the items total cost rounded to the nearest gold piece.

For example, a 2 Keen Flaming Burst longsword's total cost is 50,315 GP. 1% of this is 503.15, rounded down to 503 GP total. This is paid after the item is identified, and if the player refuses to pay then the scribe keeps the item until payment is received.


End file.
